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Reinforcing Effects of Nicotine |
Sunday, May 29, 2005 |
3:30 PM–4:20 PM |
Lake Ontario (8th floor) |
Area: BPH |
Chair: Jesse Dallery (University of Florida) |
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Reinforcing Effects of Nicotine: Facts and Fiction |
Domain: Basic Research |
STEVEN I. DWORKIN (University of North Carolina, Wilmington) |
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Abstract: While there is little doubt that smoking is deadly, approximately 25% of adults smoke cigarettes in the United States with worldwide usage estimated to exceed 1.2 billion. Nicotine is considered to be the major component in cigarette smoke that maintains smoking. While the rodent self-administration model of compulsive drug use has been successfully employed to discern the reinforcing effects of drugs as well as the neurobiologic correlates of drug dependency and abuse, nicotine was an exception until the pivotal report by Corrigal and Cohen (1989). Results from additional studies by Corrigal and his collogues were suggested to identify the pharmacologic and neurobiologic aspects of nicotine self-administration and led to the suggestion that the reinforcing effects of nicotine are similar to those of cocaine and heroin. However, both previous and more current research has not supported their conclusions. It is somewhat disquieting that the non-human self-administration procedure, considered to be the quintessence in assessment of reinforcing effects, is incongruent with the prevalence data. This suggests that factors additional to reinforcing effects are involved in the habitual use of nicotine by humans. |
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